“The dating rules are a lot different at this age,” a reader told me. “A little patience is required.”

“He is shy and very short,” said 79-year-old “Anne,” who is 5 feet 2 inches tall, after her first date with 83-year-old “Frank.”

While he had taken her to lunch at a nice restaurant, she thought maybe he wasn’t ready to date yet. He had been a widower for only two years while Anne’s husband had died five years ago.

“So how would you rate your date on a scale of one to ten?” I asked.

“About a three,” she responded. “And I’m not sure I will ever hear from him again.”

Three weeks later, Frank finally called, and Anne got right to the point.

“Do you drive at night, and do you drink wine?” she asked him. His enthusiastic “Yes!” earned him an invitation for wine and cheese at her house that evening.

Sometimes older really is wiser.

Anne admits that when she was younger, she probably would not have been willing to give him another chance, let alone wait three weeks to hear from him. But she is glad she did.

By the next morning, Frank had changed from too short to “just about the right height for me.” He had morphed from shy to “quiet but very interesting.” And he had moved up the scale from a “three” to a “five.”

The following night he took her out for dinner and dancing.

“You know, it is really nice to be able to see the face of your dancing partner instead of having him tower over you,” Anne said.

Not only did he dance like a dream, he was very funny and was now an eight.

A few nights later, when Anne invited Frank to dinner at her place, they discovered they had a mutual love of cooking, and he helped her prepare the meal. I sensed him edging toward a “nine.”

The couple met over Memorial Day weekend. As we slide into the July 4 weekend, Anne reports that on a scale of one to ten, he’s a 12!

They plan to celebrate the holiday by barbecuing and watching fireworks from the terrace of his home. I’m thinking they may have more to celebrate than America’s birthday.

Email [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @patriciabunin and at patriciabunin.com.

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